Restaurants: Success at 4

To many, the lowly cafeteria is a symbol
of soup-line shabbiness. So what happens when it is spruced up with
classy decor, white-jacketed waiters and tasty food? In the case of
Mobile-based Morrison Incorporated, the resulting high costs hold
profits to a thinly sliced 40¢ a meal. Naturally, the company has to
compensate for that with volume. One of the nation's fastest-growing
cafeteria chains, with 57 branches in seven Southeastern states (and
six more due to open this year), Morrison's serves up 2,000,000 meals a
month, has tripled annual sales over the past dozen years to
$47,284,000.